Postmix juice dispensers that feature disposable, front-load concentrate packages are currently the most user-friendly dispensers. If the front-load package includes an integral pump/nozzle, the amount of routine sanitizing required by storeowners is minimized. The prior art includes front-load packages with integral pump/nozzles. However, such configurations have several problems:
1) the pump must be constructed of expensive flexible materials. PA1 2) the pulsation of the pump is objectionable to customers and consumers. PA1 3) all mixing must take place in the nozzle. PA1 4) the pulsation makes mixing the concentrate with water difficult.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,791, entitled "Low Cost Beverage Dispenser" discloses a low cost, manually operated, postmix juice dispenser including a water tank manually filled with water and ice, a removable concentrate container, and a water pump and a concentrate pump connected to a manually operated pump handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,193, entitled "Postmix Beverage Dispensing System" discloses a postmix juice dispensing system for dispensing a finished beverage directly from a pliable beverage concentrate having an ice point at or near freezer temperatures, with little or no conditioning. The system preferably uses a one-piece, unitary, disposable package that includes both the concentrate container and a positive displacement metering pump. The disposable package is placed in the dispenser which automatically connects the pump to a pump motor. A mixing nozzle is connected to the metering pump and a water line is connected to the mixing nozzle. Upon pushing a load button, the dispenser automatically feeds compressed air on top of a piston in the concentrate container to force concentrate into the pump. The dispenser automatically reads an indicator on the package to set the pump speed in response to the type of concentrate in the package. The dispenser requires no cleanup or sanitization and allows rapid flavor change.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,519, entitled "Postmix Beverage Dispenser", discloses a postmix beverage dispenser including a housing, a water bath, a refrigeration system, a concentrate package compartment, a cooling system for the compartment, and a potable water circuit including a cooling coil in the water bath. The concentrate packages are preferably bag-in-box packages with a flexible tube, and the dispenser includes a peristaltic pump driven by a gearhead motor with an encoder. A flow meter in the potable water line feeds information to the control system which controls the pump speed to control ratio. A ratio card is inserted into a slot in the door to tell the control system the ratio to use for each BIB package. A removable water nozzle improves mixing. An improved subassembly and method for making it is described. The potable water cooling coil is above the evaporator coil and separately removable from the water bath.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,860,923, entitled "Postmix Juice Dispensing System", discloses a postmix juice dispensing system for reconstituting and dispensing pliable 5+1 orange juice at freezer temperatures of from about -10.degree. F. to 0.degree. F., including a pressurizable canister for pressurizing concentrate in a flexible bag and for forcing the concentrate through a concentrate conduit into a heat exchanger, then into a metering device and then into a mixing chamber where the concentrate mixes with water fed also through a metering device. The dispensing system includes a remote, under-the-counter refrigeration system with a recirculating water chiller for chilling the concentrate reservoir in the dispenser, a water tank, a pressurizable concentrate canister in the tank, and a potable water heat exchange coil in a cold water bath to cool the potable water to be used in the dispenser.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,886, entitled "Bag-in-tank Concentrate System for Postmix Juice Dispenser", discloses a postmix juice dispensing system for reconstituting and dispensing pliable orange juice at freezer temperatures including a pressurizable canister for pressurizing concentrate in a flexible bag and for forcing the concentrate out of the bag. The canister includes a slidable carrier therein for receiving the bag and locking the bag outlet fitting in a proper location to matingly connect to the canister inlet fitting.
Although the above configurations include advantages, improvements are always welcomed. Therefore it may be seen that there is a need in the art for an improved postmix juice dispenser.